Lowering and raising seat for tubs and the like



INVENTOR.

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LOWERING AND RAISING SEAT FOR TUBS AND THE LIKE I NVEN TOR.

aw 6' 42M #liarzrgyn United States Patent 3,317,928 LOWERING AND RAISINGSEAT FOR TUBS AND THE LIKE Anton Root, 1814 Jackson St., North Chicago,Ill. 60064 Filed Sept. 25, 1964, Ser. No. 399,276 12 Claims. (Cl. 4-185)This invention relates to a package unit to be mounted on a wall at theend of a tub which package unit contains a chair that may be lowered orraised int-o and from the tub.

Invalid and semi-invalid persons are faced with problems of entering andleaving a tub for bathing. Various mechanical units and assemblies havebeen provided to raise and lower such persons into the tub. Some of saidunits must be rolled to and away from the tub and others are complexstructures which are either mounted to walls or tubs. Many units occupymuch space and others lack flexibility and desirable features such asremoving the seating surface for cleaning or replacement. It isaccordingly a primary object of this invention to provide a package unitfor mounting on the wall over a tub, which package contains a seatassembly which may be lowered for active use and retracted for inactivestorage.

Another object is a bath chair package unit which permits selectiveseating in the tub or outside the tub on a retractable seat.

Another object is a bath chair package mounted on the wall over the endof a tub which may be simply and quickly moved to active position, andin which power means slowly raise and lower the surface for comfortableand safe use for the bathing subject.

Another object is a package unit which may be closed to view when not inuse and which may be quickly opened and placed in operation whendesired.

Another object is a bath chair package unit to be mounted on the wallover the end of a tub, said package having a retractable seatingassembly with a seating surface of flexible material which may be easilyremoved for cleaning or replacement, and in which said flexible materialmay be easily reinstalled.

Another object is a package containing a retractable bath chair seatassembly in which a part of the package is rigidly secured to a wall atone end of the tub and another part of the package may be swung out sothat the seat assembly may be placed in position over the side of thetub to permit convenient seating by a user.

Another object is a bath chair package, as described, in which the seatassembly includes flexible seating material with means on the undersideof such material to anchor the material when the seat is fully loweredwithin the tub.

These and other objects are attained by the invention which will bedescribed in detail and which is shown in the enclosed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic top plan view of the package mounted on a wallover the end of a tub;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic side elevational view in partial section of thepackage, wall and tub shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view on a large scale of the package unitwith parts removed and parts in section;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view of the package on an enlarged scaleshowing the seat assembly lowered to active position with parts insection and parts removed;

FIGURE 5 is a schematic front elevational view in section of theseating;

FIGURE 6 is an exploded perspective of an arm assembly used in the seatassembly; and

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of the gear train and motor withparts in section and parts removed.

The use of like numerals in the various views will refer to likestructures and elements.

Referring to FIGURES 1 and 2, a package unit shown generally as 10 ismounted rigidly and securely to a wall 12 by bolts such as 14. Below thepackage is located one end 16 of a tub, another end is shown at 18, anda side at 20. The package includes an outer housing or box 22 and aninner housing or box 24. One side 26 of the inner box is joined to aside 28 of the outer box by a heavy hinge such as 30. This permits theinner box to be swung out over the side 20 of the tub as indicated inFIGURE 1 by phantom line. The package may be provided with a cover 32 toclose from view the contents of the inner box when the bath chair is notused. Such cover is preferably hinged as at 29 and 31 at a side oppositeto the hinge so that the cover may be swung to a side of the tubopposite from side 20, for example. With this arrangement, the inner boxwill be swung to the opposite side of the tub so that the seat assemblymay be moved from Within the inner box over the outside of the tub, orover the inside of the tub, as desired.

Referring now to FIGURES 3 and 4, the inner box is shown structurallyreinforced by crisscrossing T irons and 42 in which the depending stems44 and 46 are welded or abutted against the back 48 of the inner box.The'top flanges 49 and 50 of the T abut against the top 52 of the innerbox and the sides 54 and .56 respectively. Channels 45 and 47 are shownat the sides of the box and a similar channel 51 is shown at the top.The ends of such channels are shown angled to abut against adjoiningends of the T irons. Such channels are fixed to the box by appropriatewelds or the like. An angle 58 laterally extends to Ts 40 and 42 and issecured to the stems of such Ts by welds such as 60' and 62. Cornerbracket supports 63 and 64 are shown at the bottom of the box to provideadditional reinforcements. Two sides of such supports may have turned-inlegs (not shown) to be fixed to the side and bottom of the box by Welds.Two bracket elements have apertured bosses 68, 69 which have integralflange portions 71, 72 by which the bracket elements are fixed to theback wall by four bolts. One bolt is shown at 73 in flange 71 and theother at 74 in flange 72. The bosses hold rotatable bearings 75, 75which are integrally formed with ofiset body sections 78 and 79 ofbearing elements shown generally as 80* and 81. The bearing elements areadapted to rotate to up and down positions by bearings 75, 76 rotatingwithin their respective bosses. Each rotatable bearing has side bearinginserts such as and 86 shown with rotatable bearings 75. Alignedopenings in the bearing inserts receive end parts 87 and 88 of a shaftshown generally as 89. The shaft contains an intermediate part 90 whichis connected to end part 87 by removable collar 92 and pin 94, and toend part 88 by a similar removable collar 96 and pin 98. The shaft maybe easily dismantled by removing the collars to repair or replace theshaft or the shaft parts.

The ends of the shaft have worm gears 100 and 102 which are attachedthereon by screws such as 104, 106. The shaft is rotated by belt 108turning gear 110 fixed to the shaft. The belt is turned by the electricmotor shown generally as 112 mounted to angle 58 by studs and nuts showngenerally at 114 and 116.

A pair of spaced arms 118, are adapted to be rotated at their inner endsby gears 100 and 102 respectively. The arms are part of the seatassembly which is raised and lowered as a unit. The arms may besupported in their lowered or active position by collapsible means suchas link hinges, one of which is shown at 117.

Such hinges include a link fixed to the box and pivoted at 121 toanother link 123 fixed to the plate 122. The assembly also includes thebearing elements 75 and 76 with their bearing bores 82 and 83 to receivearms 118 and 120. The bearing elements are fixed to a supporting plate122 to the top side at each bottom corner. The plate has a curved frontedge 124, and such plate extends to both arms.

The two arms are alike in construction and operation but the descriptionwill pertain to arm 118 alone. Arm 118 is shown as having a solidportion with its lower back end having a gear fixed to the solid portionby a screw or pin 136. This gear is turned by Worm 100 of the shaft in acorner cutout 137 of the plate 122. The arm has an upper or front hollowor tube portion 138 with an end 140 that telescopes over the end of thesolid portion. A screw or the like 142 locks the hollow portion to thesolid portion. Attached to the plate by welds, soldering or the like, isa carriage member 146 which holds the bearing races 148 and 150 ofbearing 152. The arm rotates within such bearing.

A flexible material seat 154 is suspended between the arms 118, 120 andis adapted to be raised or lowered by respectively being rolled orunrolled around the arms 118 and 120. Arcuate covers such as 155 and 156may be provided for the rotating arms so the user does not contact suchrotating arms. The arcuate covers may be curved around the inside of thearms, relative to the user, and may be secured to the bottom of theplate by a plurality of bolts such as 157 and 158.

The flexible seating material 154, which may be strong duck canvas, islocked in the hollow portion 133 of the arm in such a way that thecanvas may be removed for cleaning or replacement. This is accomplishedby removing a plug or closure 162 from the end of the arm. Such a plugis shown with a threaded stem 164 to engage thread 166 in the end of thearm. The threaded stem body also provides support for the hollow portionof the arm at its upper or outer end. The plug 162 as shown has a bore168 which receives a spring 170 that urges ball 172 outward againstspherical socket 174. This permits the arm to be snap locked against thetop 52 of the inner box when the arm is moved to an inactive position,as shown in FIGURE 3 by phantom outline. The end of the other arm issimilarly designed in the present embodiment.

Reference may now be made to FIGURES 5 and 6. When the closure or plug162 is removed, then the retaining means for the seat are longitudinallywithdrawn from the hollow portion. By this action, a side of the seat iscarried along and removed from slot 177 which extends along asubstantial axial length of the tube portion of the arm. The seat isretained preferably by overlapping end 182 of the flexible materialafter it has been turned around a rod or elongated retainer 184. The rodis wider than slot 177 so it is retained therein. The overlapped portionis secured as by strong stitching indicated at 183. The overlap forms anenclosed loop 185 which is dimensioned to permit easy entry and removalof the rod 184. A frictional slip collar 187 is provided on the end ofthe arm to constrain the walls of the arm from spreading at the slotwhen the plug 162 is inserted. The arm has a down-turned lip as at 189to limit movement of the collar further on the arm.

The bottom of the seating material is shown provided with anchoringmeans, such as suction cups 190 and 191, adapted to securely engage thebottom 194 of the tub when the seat is placed in a fully loweredposition. The arms 118 and 120 rotate clockwise and counterclockwise asindicated by the arrows in FIGURE 5 so that when the seat is fullyrolled up on the arms, it will be substantially taut and parallel to thebottom of the tub as indicated by phantom line 196 showing the suctioncups 190 and 191 in the raised position.

It will be seen from FIGURE 5 that there is a small space between thetop of the tub and the bottom of the arm so that the flexible materialpreferably has clearance to accommodate any bellying of the canvas whenthe weight of the user is placed in the seat. A clearance of about 4inches has been found satisfactory.

The motor is shown generally at 112 with a gear train reduction so theworm gears 100 and 102 rotate at substantially lower and safer speeds.Looking at FIGURE 7, an electric motor 192 is in housing 194 andjournalled appropriately at 196 and 198. The motor shaft 200 may turn athigh rates of speed of about 20,000 rpm. and this shaft has gearedportion 202 which meshes with gear 204 fixed to shaft 206 journalled at208 and 210. Shaft 206 has gear portion 212 which meshes with gear 214fixed to shaft 216 which is journalled at 218 and 220. Shaft 216 rotatesat a substantially reduced rate, say about 550 rpm. The reduced rotationturns gear 222 which drives belt 108. This further reduced therotational speed so that a shaft 89 turns about 300 r.p.m. Worm gears100 and 102 further reduce the rotational rate so that arms 118 and 120rotate at the low and safe speeds of about 15 rpm. The user turns themotor on and off by an appropriate switch conveniently positioned, suchas at 145, on the cover portion 155 of the rotating arm (see FIGURE 4).The connections of the switch to the motor are not shown but such areconventional. It will be realized that the switch may be otherwisepositioned, such as in the end wall or on the tub or in a separateportable control.

The use and operation of the invention are as follows:

A safety chair which can be slowly raised and lowered has been shown asdisposed in a package unit consisting preferably of an outer metal andan inner metal box. The inner box is preferably of a similarconfiguration to the outer box but of smaller overall dimensions so thatit can freely swing in and out of the outer box.

The outer metal box is securely fastened to the wall by preferablyapplying connectors to the studding behind the wall.

This package is particularly versatile because it permits seriouslyincapacitated users to sit in the chair outside the tub. Even if theuser is paralyzed from the waist down, he can lower himself into thechair which has been positioned over the side of the tub. He would onlyneed an attendant to lift his legs and feet over the side of the tub andthen swing the chair over the tub.

A side of the inner box has been shown hinged to an adjoining side ofthe outer box by a heavy duty hinge such as a piano hinge so that theinner box may swing out about 90 directly over the side of the tub andsupport the weight of the user. It should be realized, however, thatother pivotal means or hinges may be used at the junction of the sidesto swing the box more than 90, if desired, to facilitate seating outsidethe tub.

The rotatable arms in the retractable seat assembly are lowered to afully' active positive which is substantially horizontal to a planerunning through the top of the tub. The arms are operable in thisposition either over the side of the tub or directly over the tub.

A seating should be used which is flexible, strong and serviceable. Sucha seating material, together with a strong construction of the box andother accessories of the seating assembly, support great weights safely.The unit may be constructed with a capacity life of 500 lb. or more.Once the chair is positioned over the tub, it may be convenientlycontrolled to lower the user to any desired level, say from 2 inches to10 inches from the bottom of the tub.

The combination of the seating surface of flexible material togetherwith the rotating arms leads to a comfortable and serviceable seat whichhas the added advantage of being removable for cleaning and replacement.Flexible seating material is highly desirable for a bath chair,

therefore its removal for cleaning or replacement is an importantfeature of the invention. Such seating materials are comfortable andthey additionally give the user a sense of safety and security becauseof their cradling effect. This is very important, especially for olderusers and invalids or semi-invalid users. Removal and reinstallation ofthe seating material has been provided by the locking assembly withinthe tube portions of the arms. Such an assembly is out of the way but isstill easily accessible by simply removing the closure at the end of thetube portions. Such closure preferably has a threaded stem forpositioning within the tube so that said stem supports or maintains thedimensional spacing or extent of the tube. The sides of the seatingmaterial are conveniently turned around or lapped over an elongatedretainer which is then inserted in the hollow portions of the arms. Itis an advantageous feature that the elongated retainer may be removed asa unit from the tube portions, and the seating material may beconveniently released or installed in a free working area. Thiseliminates the problem of working in tight quarters and performingcomplicated manipulations in locking and unlocking the seating materiaL-I The flexible material seat is lowered and raised at a slow rate bymeans which provide great power for handling users of great weights.Such means have been shown as a great train with a reduction system inwhich different numbers of teeth in the gears convert the initial highrotation rate of the motor to a very low rotational rate of the arms.The illustrated embodiment of this reduction system provides a motorshaft gear 202 with a small number of teeth such as 8T. It engages alarger gear of 4ST, and then gear 212 of 10T turns gear 214 with 66T.The rate is then reduced from 66T to 12T with gear 222, and then to 22Twith gear 110 which results in shaft 88 turning at about 15 r.p.m.areduction from the original motor rotation of about 20,000 r.p.m. Thus,the final lifting point of about 15 r.p.m. represents a greatly reducedrotation which provides great power for lifting or raising users ofgreat sizes. The lifting power is in fact far in excess of what isordinarily required.

The Worm gears 100 and 102 at the end of shaft parts 87 and 88 serve adual function of turning the gears such as 135 on-the arms and acting ashinges with such arm gears in raising and lowering the arms. When notused, the arms are moved or retracted to an upper position whichrequires very little deep space in the package, say only about threeinches.

The invention may now be practiced, but such practitioners will knowthat the invention is not restricted to the particular embodiments whichhave been shown. The scope of the invention is not to be restrictedexcept by the terms of the following claims as given meaning by thepreceding description.

I claim:

1. A bath chair package to be mounted on the wall at one of the ends ofthe tub which includes, in combination, an outer housing adapted to berigidly fixed to the wall, an inner housing having a plurality of sides,one of said sides pivoted on a vertical axis to the outer housing sothat the inner housing may swing to a position over the side of the tub,a retractable seat assembly within the inner housing, a seating surfacein said assembly, said seating assembly movable to active position sothe seating surface may be used, means to raise and lower the seatingsurface, and said seating surface movable back into the inner housingwhen inactive.

2. A bath chair package as in claim 1 further characterized in that themeans to raise and lower said seating assembly includes a pair of spacedrotatable arms, means to rotate the arms, and said seating surface is offlexible material which is rolled up and unrolled by such arms.

3. A bath chair package as in claim 2 further characterized in thatmeans to rotate the arms includes a motor connected to the arms by areduced gear train so that the arms rotate at a reduced rate from therate at which the motor turns over.

4. A bath chair package as in claim 1 further characterized in that theseating surface has an underside with a suction cup attached thereto tosecure the seating surface to the bottom of the tub in the fully loweredposition.

5. A bath chair package as in claim 1 further characterized in that theseating assembly has means which allow removal and replacement of theseating surface.

6. A bath chair package as in claim 1 further characterized in that theside of the inner housing is pivoted to the outer housing by a heavyduty hinge extending along the junction of said side with the outerhousing.

7. A bath chair package adapted to be rigidly mounted on the wall aboveone of the ends of the tub which includes, in combination, an outer box,means to rigidly secure the box to the wall, an inner box within theouter box, the inner box having a configuration similar to the outer boxso that the inner box is snugly but swingably positioned within theouter box, a heavy duty hinge vertically pivoting a side of the innerbox to an adjoining side of the outer box so that the inner box mayswing out over the side of the tub, a retractable seat assembly disposedwithin the inner box, the seat assembly including a flexible seatingsurface, means in the inner box to raise and lower the seating surfaceto active position and inactive position, and means in the seat assemblyto permit replacement of the flexible seating surface.

8. A bath chair package adapted to be mounted on the wall over one ofthe ends of the tub which includes, in combination, an outer housing,means to rigidly secure the outer housing on the wall, an inner housingwithin the outer housing, a plurality of sides on the inner housing, oneof said sides of said inner housing pivoted on a vertical axis to theouter housing by a heavy duty hinge, a retractable seat assemblydisposed within the inner housing, the seat assembly having spaced arms,a flexible seating surface suspended between said arms, one of the endsof said arms having means adapted to engage rotatable means within theinner housing when the arms are lowered to active position, the armshaving passageways extending at least partly along their axial lengths,a slot in each arm communicating with the passageway, the opposite sidesof the flexible seating surface positioned in said passageway andextending out of said slots, and means to releasably lock the oppositesides of the flexible material within the passageway.

9. A bath chair package as in claim '8 further characterized in that themeans to releasably lockthe opposite sides of the flexible materialinclude an elongated retainer within a loop formed by an overlappingside edge of the flexible material and said overlapping sides connectedtogether at a point which dimensions the loop sufficiently to permiteasy entry and removal of the elongated retainer.

10. A bath chair package adapted to be mounted on the wall over one ofthe ends of the tub, which includes, in combination, an outer box, meansto rigidly secure the outer box to the wall, an inner box of similarconfiguration to the outer box so said inner box may be positionedwithin the outer box, a heavy duty vertical hinge pivoting a side of theinner box to an adjoining side of the outer box so that the inner boxmay swing out over the side of the tub, a retractable seat assemblydisposed within the inner box, the seat assembly including a pair ofspaced rotatable arms, a passageway in at least a forward portion ofeach arm, an elongated slot in the forward portion of each arm, aflexible material seat, the opposite sides of the seat passing throughthe slots, means within the forward portion of said arms to releasablyhold said opposed sides within the arms, removable means at the forwardends of the arms to allow access to passageways in the forward portions,engaging means on the rearward portion of each arm, driving means whichconnect with the engaging means of the arms to rotate said arms at lowrotational rates so the flexible material seat may be raised and loweredslowly and safely to an active position substantially horizontal to aplane through the top of the tub and to raise the seat to the inactiveposition within the inner box wherein the arms are substantiallyvertical to said plane through the top of the tub, and means to controlthe driving means so that the seat is selectively lowered by beingunrolled from around the arms and selectively raised by being rolled upon said arms.

11. A bath chair package as in claim 10 further characterized in thatthe means within the passageways of the forward portions of the armsincludes an elongated retainer within a loop formed by an overlappingside edge of the flexible material, and said overlapping sides connectedtogether by stitching so the loop is dimensionally set.

12. A bath chair package as in claim 10 further characterized in thatthe removable means at the ends of each arm is a closure, a stern on theclosure, means to releasably lock the stem within the arm so that saidclosure may be removed and may support the dimensional extent of the armwhen in place, and constraining means on the slotted arm to limitexpansion of the arm when the stem is locked in place.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,263,611 4/1918Scroggin 4185 X 2,045,110 6/1936 Spiess 4-185 2,565,761 8/1951 Dean 4185X 2,965,153 12/1960 Purcell 312235 X LAVERNE D. GEIGER, PrimaryExaminer.

H. I. GROSS, Assistant Examiner.

1. A BATH CHAIR PACKAGE TO BE MOUNTED ON THE WALL AT ONE OF THE ENDS OFTHE TUB WHICH INCLUDES, INCOMBINATION, AN OUTER HOUSING ADAPTED TO BERIGIDLY FIXED TO THE WALL, AN INNER HOUSING HAVING A PLURALITY OF SIDES,ONE OF SAID SIDES PIVOTED ON A VERTICAL AXIS TO THE OUTER HOUSING SOTHAT THE INNER HOUSING MAY SWING TO A POSITION OVER THE SIDE OF THE TUB,A RETRACTABLE SEAT ASSEMBLY WITHIN THE INNER HOUSING, A SEATING SURFACEIN SAID ASSEMBLY, SAID SEATING ASSEMBLY MOVABLE TO ACTIVE POSITION SOTHE SEATING SURFACE MAY BE USED, MEANS TO RAISE AND LOWER THE SEATINGSURFACE, AND SAID SEATING SURFACE MOVABLE BACK INTO THE INNER HOUSINGWHEN INACTIVE.